Conventional digital cameras are configured to collect light bouncing off of a subject onto an image sensor through a lens. The image sensor immediately breaks the light pattern received into a series of pixel values that are processed to form a digital image of the subject.
Digital image technology is being used with increasing popularity leading to increasing production volume. The increased production volume is due not only to the increasing popularity of conventional digital cameras but also due to miniature fixed-focused digital cameras being incorporated into various end products, such as mobile telephones (cellular telephones), personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other electronic devices.
During the manufacture of fixed-focused digital camera modules, it is desirable to optimize the positioning of the lens with respect to the image sensor to provide for a relatively well-focused digital image. Conventionally, a camera module is processed within a focusing station. Once placed in the focusing station, the camera module is activated to produce either a still picture or a video signal output depicting a focus target. In order to analyze the picture or video output, the focusing station utilizes a commercial piece of hardware, such as a frame grabber or digital frame grabber, which is used to capture the digital video signals from the camera module for storage in memory of a computer processing unit, such as a personal computer, within the focusing station.
The degree of focus of the images stored within the memory of the station are analyzed by the personal computer to determine the level of camera module focus and whether or not the camera module focus needs to be adjusted. Accordingly, in this conventional operation, the camera module merely outputs the same video or signal streams that the camera module outputs during ordinary use of the camera module. The focusing station breaks down, stores, and performs calculations to the ordinary camera module output to determine the level of camera module focus. In this regard, a fair amount of development and money is spent to provide the focusing system.